This morning we woke up and everything was white with snow. The snow showers carried on all morning, but by the afternoon most of it had melted. I went for a walk to Eske/Pulfin from 3-4.30pm expecting the cold weather to bring out some birds. I was pretty much wrong there, with just the normal collection of species present. Plenty of Wigeon on the lake, along with Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Pochard and a few Great-crested Grebes.

The wintering Goldeneye has been joined by three more, all four are females.

The hedges did contain quite a few Long-tailed Tits, Great Tits and Blue Tits, but almost no finches at all; just a few Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Pulfin Fen was under quite a bit of water and loads of Teal were feeding there with a nice sunset in the background. In the distance to the north about 30 Mute Swans were feeding in fields and a distant Barn Owl was hunting along some ditches.

On the way back another Barn Owl flew very close by, illustrating how common they are in this area – I’ve sen more Barn Owls in the 2.5 years I’ve lived here than in the rest of my life put together!

The state of the footpath was interesting; the first 200 metres from the road were terribly churned up where people have wlaked along it, but after that it was far less muddy, showing just how few people walk more than a couple of hundred metres from their car!